Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Apr 18, 2011 12:16 am Hi, have been reading posts in this forum for a few weeks now and have learned what to do and what not to do, my list of things to look out for and things not to forget about has grown at an incredible rate. Every time I read a new thread I discover something else, I am finding this very educational. I have also learned that no matter who the builder is there will always be some problems, and it is up to us, the clients, to ensure we know what is going to happen and who is the person we need to communicate with at all times to hopefully avoid problems, and also no matter how much we plan for, there are somethings that will always go wrong. With all that said, are doing a knock down and rebuild, my husband and I have decided to build the Simonds Amberlea, we saw the display home at Berwick and went to the Tarneit Amberlea Fusion, and followed up with the Epping Amberlea display home and discovered that the floor plan works well with my family and that the Epping home is what sold it too us. This was not our first choice for a house, we must of visited over 100 display homes in 9 months. Our first choice was Porter Davis Wembley, very nice house, very nice customer service, but unfortunately they couldn't put the windows in the back bedrooms to face the rear of the house, so my childrens bedrooms would over look neighbours instead of the views of the Dandenong ranges. Our next choice was the Albany by Carisle homes, they did a drive by of the house and said that the fall of the property was greater than 3 metres and they don't build on blocks that steep and also my neighbours foxtel line crosses my driveway and they wont build on a property with any lines crossing the drive way. So after looking around online at different homes designs my husband went to all the builders websites and looked at homes that fitted our criteria and we decided to look at Simonds even though we didn't have high expectations, we came away from the Amberlea with all of our criteria boxes ticked, and decided to go for it. The soil test and land survey has been done. Our land only falls 1.17m We have signed the quote and are waiting for the customer service person to contact us and we expect that to happen some time this week. We are nervous and excited and hopefully we can get have a great home built with the least amount of problems as possible. hubby, kids and me all waiting for the Amberlea Site Cut 27 September 2011 https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=46637 http://www.dscml.com/ Re: Building Simonds Amberlea 2Apr 19, 2011 10:27 pm Hi there edscl, Good luck for your new home! You must be feeling very excited but yet apprehensive about the next 6 months or so; don't blame you at all. I will be building at a much later stage with Henley, the Talise Q2. My land will only become titled in Oct 2011 so it looks like I have a long wait before the adrenaline flows. The back of my land and the entire right side face parklands and I have only one neighbour on my left. After scouring all the plans; we were down to either Henley's Talise or the Porter Davis Camberwell as they fitted in perfectly towards our parkland views with the corner alfresco. Henley clinched the deal as it made full use of our land; I admit I am definitely not an avid gardener! It will be a very exciting phase of our lives, be prepared for a roller coaster ride! Cheers. TaliseFan Re: Building Simonds Amberlea 3Apr 22, 2011 8:23 pm hi TaliseFan, thanks for your comments. I really liked the Camberwell, but couldn't convince my husband, I liked the layout and felt that the rooms were a good size. I am jealous that you only have 1 neighbour, as I have 4 neighbours with my boundary fences. I am hoping that they are all quiet most of the time. I hope October will come by fast and that your build goes smoothly. hubby, kids and me all waiting for the Amberlea Site Cut 27 September 2011 https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=46637 http://www.dscml.com/ Re: Building Simonds Amberlea 4Apr 22, 2011 8:35 pm Wow, looks like you have seen TONS of houses and done quite a fair bit of homework too! I was limited by the size of my land which left me with very few designs. It was a close finish between the two builders (close to the toss of a coin!) Thanks for your kind wishes; yes, I wish these next 6 months will just fly by...When do you expect to start building? I will be following your thread closely, maybe pop in/exchange useful tips. Enjoy every moment of this great adventure! Cheers Mee2 Re: Building Simonds Amberlea 5Apr 23, 2011 11:15 am Hi edscl, Good luck with your build, we started our build just over 1 month ago, we have a slab and the frame starts next week, mostly good so far, but as you say, keep on top of what your builder is doing, check every step as far as you can, we had one drama getting some plumbing fixed just prior to the slab pour - after some persistence from me nagging the construct manager. Their site supervisor was ill and no one was looking after the build, so the plumber made a mistake. Our block has 2m side slope, we ended up with 1.5m retaining wall and cut/fill across the block, deepened edge beams on house. I am keeping a blog at http://building-with-ashford.blogspot.com/ if you would like to visit and see how it all unfolds. Happy easter to you and your family. Cheers, Ernie & Sandy Ernie B Yanchep Golf Estate, WA ---------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------- Re: Building Simonds Amberlea 6Apr 23, 2011 5:42 pm I saw the Amberlea in Berwick quite a while ago and I loved it. It's such a great design. Custom downslope build Build thread viewtopic.php?f=31&t=61873 Blog http://www.buildingroyalmanor.blogspot.com.au Re: Building Simonds Amberlea 7May 13, 2011 10:19 pm Hi Everyone, thanks for your posts. ErnieB I was worried that my slope was going to be huge, but your 1.5m retaining wall is double of what I will be having, hope it all goes well for you HomeAngels, we fell in love the Amberlea house and hopefully we get what we want in the end, crossing fingers hubby, kids and me all waiting for the Amberlea Site Cut 27 September 2011 https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=46637 http://www.dscml.com/ Re: Building Simonds Amberlea 8May 13, 2011 10:37 pm We had our tender appointment at Simonds Eastern office in Springvale/Mulgrave tonight. We are yet to meet the customer relation officer that was assigned to us, he didn't come and meet us tonight even though he was in the office for a short time that we were there. I seriously doubt that we will meet him at all during the build. To arrange this appointment for today he was supposed to send us a letter, which never came and we had to follow up with him about confirming a time for this appointment. We saw a lovely man who was very accommodating with the fact we could only meet him at 4pm and that we were going to have our 2 children with us, so in the horrible cold raining weather we all went thoroughly through the tender. We discovered that the sales person had not drawn in a couple of changes we wanted in the plans, like making a larger pantry and putting a shower in the downstairs powder room. We also discovered that the sales office tender was miscalculated and was out by $30k. We were gobsmacked. No matter how much we added the sales tender it didn't match the tender from the office and then we added up the sales reps figures and they didn't add up, it was like the biggest let down ever. How can a company produce a tender that is $30k less than what it should be? So, between my husband and the lovely man from Simonds we went about finding away to reduce the cost by $30, we got it down by $25 and I think we will just have to be happy with that, and now I wont be getting my dream kitchen I will have to wait for a little while longer. Our next appointment is with the Gallery, tiles and electrical, spread out over 2 weeks. I honestly think that some people should not work with customers, because the Gallery lady called, we returned her calls 3 times, she didn't call back, had to follow up again with the customer relations guy, who said to email her, sent her an email, she called and said that I didn't leave my phone number clearly on the messages. What the, I left 3 messages, and she couldn't get at least one number, or she couldn't look my name up in the computer or go back to the customer relations officer? Seriously! I knew we were going to have an interesting ride, so I better just get used to it now rather than latter. hubby, kids and me all waiting for the Amberlea Site Cut 27 September 2011 https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=46637 http://www.dscml.com/ Re: Building Simonds Amberlea 9May 14, 2011 12:30 pm edscl We had our tender appointment at Simonds Eastern office in Springvale/Mulgrave tonight. We are yet to meet the customer relation officer that was assigned to us, he didn't come and meet us tonight even though he was in the office for a short time that we were there. I seriously doubt that we will meet him at all during the build. To arrange this appointment for today he was supposed to send us a letter, which never came and we had to follow up with him about confirming a time for this appointment. We saw a lovely man who was very accommodating with the fact we could only meet him at 4pm and that we were going to have our 2 children with us, so in the horrible cold raining weather we all went thoroughly through the tender. We discovered that the sales person had not drawn in a couple of changes we wanted in the plans, like making a larger pantry and putting a shower in the downstairs powder room. We also discovered that the sales office tender was miscalculated and was out by $30k. We were gobsmacked. No matter how much we added the sales tender it didn't match the tender from the office and then we added up the sales reps figures and they didn't add up, it was like the biggest let down ever. How can a company produce a tender that is $30k less than what it should be? So, between my husband and the lovely man from Simonds we went about finding away to reduce the cost by $30, we got it down by $25 and I think we will just have to be happy with that, and now I wont be getting my dream kitchen I will have to wait for a little while longer. Our next appointment is with the Gallery, tiles and electrical, spread out over 2 weeks. I honestly think that some people should not work with customers, because the Gallery lady called, we returned her calls 3 times, she didn't call back, had to follow up again with the customer relations guy, who said to email her, sent her an email, she called and said that I didn't leave my phone number clearly on the messages. What the, I left 3 messages, and she couldn't get at least one number, or she couldn't look my name up in the computer or go back to the customer relations officer? Seriously! I knew we were going to have an interesting ride, so I better just get used to it now rather than latter. Hi, that seems so tiring and frustrating, how could they miscalculated that much!! Also would be disappointing that you might not get your dream kitchen. So far our build with Simonds is going good, just some mistakes here and there but nothing to worry about!! I hope everything does work out eventually and your Gallery appointment goes well!! Building Thread:https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=45132 Build started/Site Cut 5/4/11 Concrete Slab 3/5/11 Bricks Started 24/5/11 Final Stage 3/7/11 Re: Building Simonds Amberlea 10May 14, 2011 1:06 pm thanks Jovi hubby, kids and me all waiting for the Amberlea Site Cut 27 September 2011 https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=46637 http://www.dscml.com/ Re: Building Simonds Amberlea 11May 14, 2011 8:43 pm Congratulations edscl! We're also building with Simonds. We're building the coventry. We felt that it was made for our block. The floor plan is perfect. If anything, our suggestion would be to stay on top of everything but not let anything get to you! It can be a really fun but frustrating process. If you haven't yet gone to the gallery, just as a pointer, we'd recommend keeping a budget in mind on how much extra you'd like to spend. You will be encouraged to upgrade and all the little things add up. Regards, Nick & Sha Re: Building Simonds Amberlea 12May 14, 2011 9:11 pm Good point Nickahs and one I need to adhere to . At the gallery I get the impression they are there to push the upgrades on everything. I am not looking forward to the electrical, as I already know I need extra power points in some rooms, and antenna points. hubby, kids and me all waiting for the Amberlea Site Cut 27 September 2011 https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=46637 http://www.dscml.com/ Re: Building Simonds Amberlea 13May 14, 2011 9:42 pm Nothing wrong with paying a little more for electricals. We found our electrical lady was very helpful, practical and not pushy. Plus the cost of upgrading the electricals wasn't that much. Best of luck! Re: Building Simonds Amberlea 14May 15, 2011 1:00 am Hi, We are also signed up to build Amberlea, I prefer the Berwick display home style. I am building in Mount Waverley and the site cost came to 18,000 and OH &S to 14400 And we have to demolish the existing two bed room costing around 12000. Does anyone have similar experience in knock down and re build in an established area? Also we have this pay 26,000 and get 60,000 promotion, I am considering to go for 10,000 payment to get 30,000 worth of extras and thinking to do the timber floor, carpets separately(not by simonds). My Color appointment is on this week with the contract sign next week. We like to have a pool build later on, but Simonds adviced that they need to be informed with any pools plans as it may impact the waranty and depending on where the pool is located Simonds may have to do foundation changes that will cost extra. And this cost will only be calculated after contract is signed during the engineering drawing stage. I am concerned about this as I dont know what the price would end up, Any advice greately appreciated. Re: Building Simonds Amberlea 15May 16, 2011 3:22 pm Quote: Hi, We are also signed up to build Amberlea, I prefer the Berwick display home style. I am building in Mount Waverley and the site cost came to 18,000 and OH &S to 14400 And we have to demolish the existing two bed room costing around 12000. Does anyone have similar experience in knock down and re build in an established area? Also we have this pay 26,000 and get 60,000 promotion, I am considering to go for 10,000 payment to get 30,000 worth of extras and thinking to do the timber floor, carpets separately(not by simonds). My Color appointment is on this week with the contract sign next week. We like to have a pool build later on, but Simonds adviced that they need to be informed with any pools plans as it may impact the waranty and depending on where the pool is located Simonds may have to do foundation changes that will cost extra. And this cost will only be calculated after contract is signed during the engineering drawing stage. I am concerned about this as I dont know what the price would end up, Any advice greately appreciated. We are doing a knock down and rebuild in Dandenong North, not far from you, we are almost at the demolishing stage, to demolish the existing 3 bedroom house is costing us just under $11000. If the house is not solid brick you can try Golden Aged Homes, this is a service where people can buy your house, they relocate it to another property. They also clear your land, if you house is not suitable and only demolishing in possible (which is were we are at) then I can recommend a demolisher for you if you message me. Before you demolish you need to have the services abolished and that is what we are waiting for. I am also only paying the $10k to get $x We already have a pool on the block that I am trying to convince me husband to get rid of and replace. They didn't mention anything about altering the foundations about getting a pool on the block, I wonder if that depends on the size of the block and how close the pool would be. I don't like these extra charges they put on us, we have been slugged with a $8600 retaining wall, it was like surely that can be much cheaper? Love the floor plan of the Amberlea, and that is what sold it to us. Good luck on your demolition and let us know how you build goes. When will you start buidling? hubby, kids and me all waiting for the Amberlea Site Cut 27 September 2011 https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=46637 http://www.dscml.com/ Re: Building Simonds Amberlea 16May 20, 2011 1:01 pm We have had a apology from the sales manager over the miscalculation of the sales quote. Today we met the CRC, thought we would never meet him, but I suppose if you don't have so many issues you probably wont need to. Gone through all of the variations, inclusions and discussions about what went wrong with the quote. Now just need to get to the gallery to finalise costs and sign the contract as well as demolish our home. hubby, kids and me all waiting for the Amberlea Site Cut 27 September 2011 https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=46637 http://www.dscml.com/ Re: Building Simonds Amberlea 17May 20, 2011 5:28 pm Good Luck! I didnt have fun building the Amberlea, so I hope you will. Just a tip, whatever you do, please document it. Building The Amberlea 44 Fusion Home http://www.amberleadream.blogspot.com Land settled May 10!! Building commenced 30 Jun 10. Re: Building Simonds Amberlea 18May 20, 2011 7:11 pm Hi, Good luck on signing your contract & as well as demolishing your home, hope all goes well. I will definitely be watching your thread!!! Jovi. Building Thread:https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=45132 Build started/Site Cut 5/4/11 Concrete Slab 3/5/11 Bricks Started 24/5/11 Final Stage 3/7/11 Re: Building Simonds Amberlea 19May 21, 2011 12:15 am Thanks Jovi, I hope the next few steps go smoothly. Cream, definately be documenting it. When we first decided to build with Simonds my husband found your blog and we read it completely, I am amazed on the lack of skill the tradies had on your home in some areas. Hope they fix it all up soon. I have been following your blog and can't wait to see what they do with the mould. Your blog has taught us what to look out for. hubby, kids and me all waiting for the Amberlea Site Cut 27 September 2011 https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=46637 http://www.dscml.com/ Re: Building Simonds Amberlea 20May 23, 2011 1:31 pm All the best! Hope you have a better experience!!! Building The Amberlea 44 Fusion Home http://www.amberleadream.blogspot.com Land settled May 10!! Building commenced 30 Jun 10. Thanks for your reply. I will just wait and see I guess. Trying to get some more information from our builder. 9 30236 go upvc window frames ensure insulation under colorbond. not just sarking, lighter color roof also not sure if you have seen this viewtopic.php?t=5823 last couple of pages… 4 110525 |